Drawing rolls for drawing frames



Jan. 22, 1963 J. M. J. SAUVAGE 3,074,122

DRAWING ROLLS FOR DRAWING FRAMES Filed Aug. 22, 1960 lnvemor uQSEPH MAR/E JUL/EN $4UWJGE Affomeys tts This invention has reference to drawing rolls for drawing frames such as are used in the treatment of fiber preparatory to spinning the fiber into thread or yarn, and to drawing frames incorporating the said rolls.

Modern drawing frames are frequently provided with automatic regulating means ensuring that the frames produce from bulks of fiber fed thereto, slivers of constant weight per unit length despite appreciable variations in the volumes of the fibrous masses fed to the said frames. The uniformity of the spun thread or yarn depends upon the slivers being consistent. The automatic regulating means usually provided, although being as good as perfect in operation, are too costly. They are used subsequently to the customary carding or combing process, and produce slivers which are finally delivered to the spinners, and normally deliver only one sliver per head. The sliver is then subjected to three or four additional drawing treatments to provide the roving which is destined for the ensuing spinning process.

When the automatic regulating means are in use, the mass of fiber, during its passage through a first pair of drawing rolls, is so controlled in a very narrow corridor as to give greater accommodation to the volumetric variations of the said mass. When the fiber is delivered from the said pair of rollers it has been so reduced in width that it scarcely occupies half the width of the gill bars of the carding or combing mechanism, despite the beating and/or teasing to which the mass is subjected by the needles of the carding or combing mechanism. Further, there is a risk that the regularity imparted to the fiber during its passage through the first pair of rolls may be lost as the fiber is fed between subsequent pairs of rolls, which risk increases with the number of subsequent pairs of rolls. The ideal procedure to follow would be to regularize the fiber during its final treatment before it is delivered to the spinners, but this would be too onerous in a machine delivering, for example, fifty slivers or rovings simultaneously since it would necessitate providing a corresponding number of automatic regulating means.

The principal object of the present invention is to enable the weight of a fibrous sliver to be regularized during its passage through the second pair of rolls of a drawing frame.

A further object of the invention is to enable a drawing frame to simultaneously deliver two regularized slivers per head.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, diagrammatically, and by way of non-limiting examples, two alternative embodiments of the invention.

In the said drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional elevation of a pair of superimposed rolls of a drawing frame, which are adapted to be rotated by driving the upper and larger diameter roll of the pair.

FIGURE 2 is a similar sectional elevation showing how the rolls are adapted to be rotated by driving the lower and smaller diameter roll.

In carrying out the invention, one pair of rolls of a drawing frame, preferably the second pair between which fiber is passed when being drawn or attenuated within the frame, comprises two superimposed rolls of which the upper one is of greater diameter than the lower one.

3,074,122 Patented Jan. 22, 1963 As shown in FIGURE 1 of the drawing, the larger diameter upper roll comprises two identical cylinders 2a, 2b which are journalled upon and for rotation around a common shaft 2. Each of said cylinders is formed with a blind axial bore which opens to the adjacent end of the other cylinder so that the opposite ends of the shaft extend respectively into and coaxially of the bores, which are of larger diameter than the shaft. Two ball bearings 21' are housed in the bore of each cylinder, the said bearings being located respectively adjacent the closed and open ends of each bore, the outer races of the bearings being fixed in each cylinder and the inner races being fixed to the shaft. Hence each of the cylinders 2a, 2b is so journalled upon the shaft that it is adapted to be rotated about the latter independently of the other cylinder.

Likewise, the lower and smaller diameter roll also comprises two identical cylinders 3a, 3b in which ball bearings 3r are accommodated with their outer and inner races fixed respectively in the cylinders and on a common shaft 3 to enable Said cylinders to be rotated independently of each other upon the shaft. The lower cylinders differ from the upper cylinders in that each is formed with a coextensive axial bore, and the shaft 3 extends through and beyond said bores into fixed supports.

To enable the two-piece rolls to be rotated about their respective shafts, the remote ends of the cylinders 2a, 2b of the upper roll are provided with coaxial extensions on which toothed pinions 4a, 4b respectively are secured, the pinions on each of said extensions being in constant mesh with corresponding driving pinions (not shown) so that said cylinders 2a, 2b are rotatable about the common shaft 2 independently of each other and at the same or different speeds.

Further, the assembly including shaft 2 and cylinders 2a, 2b is urged toward the assembly including the shaft 3 and cylinders 3a, 3b by hydraulic or like rams A, B, and C which act respectively upon the extensions of cylinders 2a and 2b and upon the middle of the shaft 2 so that said cylinders are urged into peripheral contact with the cylinders 3a, 3b respectively, and when either cylinder 2a or 2b is rotated about the shaft 2, it causes rotation of the adjacent cylinder 3a or 312 about the shaft 3. Instead of urging the two shafts 2 and 3 toward each other by all three rams simultaneously, it may be preferable under some conditions to actuate only the two outermost rams A and B, or only the central ram C.

The modified embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURE 2 of the drawing is similar to the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1, differing from the latter only in that each of the cylinders 3a, 3b of the lower and smaller diameter roll is formed with a blind axial bore in which the ball bearings 3r are accommodated, the shaft 3 exextending through the open adjacent ends of the cylinders and into the bores. Instead of fixing toothed pinions on the extensions from the remote ends of the upper roll cylinders, toothed pinions 5a, 5b are fixed upon coaxial extensions from the remote and closed ends of the cylinders 3a, 3b so that each of these cylinders is rotatable about the shaft 3 independently of the other, and when rotated will impart rotation to the adjacent cylinder 2a or 2b of the upper roll.

By constructing each of the superimposed rolls of two cylinders which are independently rotatable, and by perrnitting each cylinder of either roll to cooperate with and drive an adjacent cylinder of the other roll, it is possible to feed separate masses of fibers to and between each pair of cooperating cylinders so that two uniform fibrous masses are delivered from the rolls at independent speeds, and two slivers may thus be produced in each head of the frame.

Rolls constructed and adapted to operate in accordance with the present invention, having a double regulation and utilized as the second pair of rolls of a drawing frame, will be supplied with sheets or naps of fiber taken from receptacles, thus increasing the output by 10-15%. The mass of fiber supplied to each of the two pairs of cooperating upper and lower cylinders will be halved volumetrically while the expansion of the fibers along each half of the needled gill bars will be effected in a more regular manner, and since this regulation will be carried out nearer to the final spinning process, the regulation thus obtained will be preserved.

The embodiments of the invention described above and illustrated in the drawings are by way of example only, and various modifications and variations may be made therein without departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for regularizing fibrous slivers in preparation for spinning them into threads, said apparatus comprising upper and lower rolls, each roll comprising two separately rotatable coaxial cylinders mounted upon a stationary shaft, the cylinders of one of the rolls being freely rotatable but in peripheral contact with the cylinders of the other roll, and a power driven pinion on the outer end of each of the cylinders of said other roll.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the cylinders of the upper roll are larger in diameter than the cylinders of the lower roll.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the peripherally contacting cylinders are arranged as two cooperating pairs, each pair 'being driven separately and independently of the other pair.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, in combination with a plurality of rams for forcing one of the rolls toward the other roll.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, in which there are three rams, one of them acting upon the middle of one of the shafts and the other two acting upon the remote ends of two coaxial cylinders.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR REGULARIZING FIBROUS SLIVERS IN PREPARATION FOR SPINNING THEM INTO THREADS, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING UPPER AND LOWER ROLLS, EACH ROLL COMPRISING TWO SEPARATELY ROTATABLE COAXIAL CYLINDERS MOUNTED UPON A STATIONARY SHAFT, THE CYLINDERS OF ONE OF THE ROLLS BEING FREELY ROTATABLE BUT IN PERIPHERAL CONTACT WITH THE CYLINDERS OF THE OTHER ROLL, AND A POWER DRIVEN PINION ON THE OUTER END OF EACH OF THE CYLINDERS OF SAID OTHER ROLL. 